Sadness and Shame in the Bronx

Published: January 10, 1992

I feel a certain way about white people right now. . . . I don't want to feel this way, but that's how I feel: angry, angry that this had to happen. . . .

The words were spoken earlier this week by a 14-year-old black youth. They convey confusion, despair, bitterness. Little wonder; he and his 12-year-old sister were the victims of a particularly cruel and unforgivable racial attack.

On Monday, as the two, who remain unidentified, were walking to an intermediate school in the Bronx they were set upon by four white youths. The youths robbed the girl of $3 and chopped off some of her hair. Then one of them squirted white paint on their faces and clothes, saying, "Y'all are going to be white today."

New York City is no stranger to racial assaults. But this one provokes a particular sadness. Mayor Dinkins put it well. "The crime is especially troubling to me," he said, "because the victims and the perpetrators are so young."

Their elders, of course, are not blameless. The mindless prejudice expressed by the young reflects, more often than not, the deeper hatreds of adults. And young victims of prejudice can be left with permanent scars.

That's why it was important that Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and about 30 political, religious and civic leaders hurried to visit the school and spread a message of tolerance. They urged the students not to judge an entire race by the actions of a few. The same sentiment was nobly expressed by the children's mother, Nellie Wilson:

"I tried to tell my kids that not everybody who is white is bad. They just met some sour apples, some bad people."

That same message applies to two other spiteful attacks this week. In one, black teen-agers assaulted an Indian girl on a bus; in the other, black youths assaulted two Hispanic boys in a school playground.

These incidents send yet another urgent signal to Albany. Legislation supported by Gov. Mario Cuomo and Democrats in the State Assembly would impose stiffer penalties for bias-related crimes. But Senate Republicans have resisted such a bill for nearly five years, largely because it would extend protection to homosexuals and put bias crimes in a special category.

The white paint has been scrubbed off, leaving the young victims to deal with their internal scars. "The way black people and white people feel about each other -- it has to stop," the boy said.

Those are wise words -- for the Bronx, the entire city and the nation.